Putting down your roots
This DFW county ranks among best U.S. places to buy a forever home
You’ve heard of forever homes for adopted pets. Well, we humans have forever homes, too. And a new study ranks Collin County among the best places to own a forever home in the U.S.
The study puts Collin County — whose major cities include Allen, McKinney, and Plano — at No. 8 on the forever-home list. To come up with its rankings, money.co.uk took into account these factors: rate of violent crimes, average home price, school ratings, average cost of electricity, average annual pay, and typical life expectancy.
A forever home is where you envision living for a long period.
“Unlike a starter home, a forever home has everything (or almost everything) that you might want,” Rocket Mortgage says. “For example, it may have a larger kitchen, more bedrooms, a backyard, easy access to public transportation — whatever you envision. Forever homes are more expensive but also have a higher resale value than starter homes.”
If you’re under 40, your chance of buying a forever home is under 25 percent, the Financial Samurai website estimates. Only after hitting age 50 do the odds of ending up in a forever home exceed 50 percent, according to the website.
Collin is the only county in Texas to make the top 10.
Here’s how it fares in each category of the money.co.uk study:
- Violent crimes per 100,000 residents — 1,424
- School ratings — A+
- Average home price — $337,200
- Average electricity cost per kilowatt-hour — $0.1099
- Life expectancy — 82.2 years
- Average annual pay — $71,246
Teton County, Wyoming, tops the money.co.uk ranking of the best places to own a forever home in the U.S.